June 9, 2025 • 22 mins
Steve Perry, founder of The Well Recruiting Solution, shares his journey from commercial fishing in Alaska at 15 to building a recruiting company with over 40 professionals and a mission to place 100,000 people in ideal careers by 2030.
• Starting as a young entrepreneur after realizing boat owners made significantly more than their crew
• Building a company focused on generosity as a core value despite leaving a $900,000/year executive position
• Creating a strategy to maintain lifestyle boundaries regardless of increasing income
• Developing "heavenly net worth" philosophy where earthly success equals charitable giving
• Structuring company roles around individual gifting so team members spend 85%+ time in their areas of strength
• Scaling through strategic delegation and replacing yourself in operational roles
• Leveraging global talent across five countries to build specialized capabilities affordably
• Solving modern recruiting challenges by filtering the overwhelming flood of applications companies receive
• Connecting companies with elite talent more efficiently than traditional internal recruiting methods
Visit HireTheWell.com to download Steve's 10 unique interview questions for ensuring you hire the right talent, or connect with him directly on LinkedIn.
Connect with Ron
Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey
“If you don’t have something to measure your growth, you won’t be self-aware or intentional about your growth.”
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The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host
leadership consultant, ronHarvey of Global Core Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning.
This is Ron Harvey.
I'm your vice president, chiefoperating officer, global Core
Strategies and Consulting, whichis a mouthful.
We're based in Columbia, southCarolina.
Excited to be here with you.
Our company is really aboutconnecting leaders with the
workforce.
At the end of the day, you cango to our website and pull a
much longer definition orexplanation of what we do, but
at the end of the day, we wantto make sure if you're running
(00:41):
an organization where the public, private, nonprofit, education,
religious organization how doyou make sure you're connected
to your people?
And there are ways that we helpyou get that done.
We truly believe leaders makeor break organizations, so love
to talk to you, but today it'sabout our guests.
It's about what they bring tothe table and the questions that
they need to get to answer andshare with us.
So I don't take much timetalking about our company
because you can literally goonto our website and get all
(01:03):
that information.
I want you to get as much asyou can get out of our guests
than you get from me.
So let me pause.
I'm going to hand themicrophone over to Steve Perry,
who's going to dive in, tell youwho he is and then we're going
to go to work, steve.
Thank you for saying yes, man,looking forward to the
conversation.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Oh, Ron, it's an honor to be here.
I really appreciate youcreating this forum.
It's so generous of you.
I know it's a lot of work thatyou put in, and so thank you for
having me.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes, yes.
So, steve, a little bit about.
I know you're running a company, so you're over at the Well, I
mean you're doing recruiting andwe'll dive into more of your
background.
But can you share a little bitabout your company before we
dive into some of the thingsthat'll come up?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Absolutely yeah.
Our company is the WellRecruiting Solution, so we're a
team of over 40 recruitingprofessionals and our job is to
help connect you with the toptalent that you're looking for
your company and take a lot ofthe work out of that and really
just put the best couple fewcandidates in front of you so
you can make the best choice anddo what you do the rest of the
(01:59):
time.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah.
So I love your tagline outthere, steve, where you're
recruiting the elite talent fortop companies and you actually
have a goal.
You know that.
I saw also that I read you guyshave a really tremendous goal,
which is important.
Can you speak to the goal thatyou have, the vision of what you
want to accomplish?
You know, I think it's by 2030that you want to get some stuff
done.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah.
So by 2030, our goal is to have100,000 people placed in their
ideal career, and really thatstems from a lot of research.
A lot of people spend a lot oftime unhappy in their career and
think about it.
Right, you're spending 40, 50,60 hours doing it, let alone
(02:37):
thinking about it per week.
And if you're not happy, ifthat is not the ideal spot for
you, like, it's super.
It's super encouraging for usto be able to place people in a
better position, where they're,they're thriving and they're
feeling energized by the workthat we're doing, and so the
only way that happens is if theymake a move.
So that's why we've got thatgoal of doing that that many
(02:58):
placements, a hundred thousandplacements by 2030.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Love it.
I mean for all you that arelistening.
You know you got to have goals.
Let Wow Love it.
I mean for all you that arelistening you know you got to
have goals, let's just be real.
So if you don't have this goal,that is big and scary audacious
if you wish, you know you areyou really selling for less.
So I'm glad that you're jumpingright out and saying we got a
really big goal and we're goingto work and get there, but but
(03:20):
we got something that we got towork to get towards.
You started really young.
You know we look at your bio,you started at 15, you paid your
way through school.
You know and I want to leaninto that a little bit because
you know that couldn't have beeneasy and it's never easy to be
successful Can you speak to someof that journey of starting
young and what got you inspired?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, yeah.
So I was blessed to be raisedin an amazing household.
My mom and dad have beenmarried for 40 years now and you
know me and my younger sistermy mom stayed home raising us.
My dad was once the newestNaval Academy and, you know, in
civilian sector he was wasworked in human resources and he
(03:55):
never he never really had likebig career aspirations.
So he was just an amazingcontributor and the biggest
priority for my parents was tosend us to the best private
Christian education that wecould get and, candidly, that
costs about a third of theirincome.
And so if I wanted anything inlife, if I want to play on the
(04:18):
basketball team and havebasketball shoes, I had to work
and earn the money to pay forthem, If I wanted to go to camp,
if I wanted a car, any of thosethings.
And so my first job wascommercial salmon fishing out in
the ocean in Alaska, where Igrew up, and at the end of that
season.
I could do the math.
I figured out how much fish wecaught, how much the price was,
how much all the differentthings cost, and I'm like man,
(04:40):
that owner made a lot of moneythis summer and I did not.
So I think I need to be theowner.
And so that was where, the nextsummer, I was like I'm not
going to work for someone else,I'm going to build my own
company, and so I was 15 yearsold at the time, and that
started my entrepreneurialjourney.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Wow, I don't even know if I was thinking like that
at 15, Steve, Like wow, that'sa really really.
But it's really exciting to seewhere you come from and your
parents, you know, worked hardand invested a lot into you.
But the lessons learned fromthat?
What was the most valuablelesson you think you learned
from your parents saying we'renot going to give you anything
you got to work for?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, one of the things that has really been the
theme and I feel like is agifting that God's given me is
the theme of generosity.
You know my parents despite allof that, you know they
regularly tithe to their churchand I knew, you know they were
supporting differentmissionaries and organizations
around the US and around theworld when I knew, like we were
(05:34):
driving 15, 20 year old carsthat broke down every few months
, and so that sacrificialgenerosity always, always,
really stuck with me and alsoestablished that habit early on
in my life to where you knowtoday.
That's really the purpose ofwhy we started the well.
One of our core values isgenerosity to be able to
(05:56):
generate a lot of revenue, butnot for our own consumption, but
to be generous with ouremployees, but then also with a
lot of incredible organizationsaround the world.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, I want to unpack that for a second because
when you look at it, you dohave the core values and
generosity is on there, faith ison there, things that keep you
grounded as a human being and ata time where people go into
entrepreneurship and they thinkabout wealth, they think about
how rich can they get Like yousaid, you did it when you're 15,
you realize how much your ownermade.
How would you separate notmaking it about money, Because
(06:27):
it's easy to get caught up inthat chase the next dollar, get
the biggest client you know, andyou hear this thing about money
.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But how did you manage to to be more committed
and disciplined, to not make itabout your personal wealth?
Yeah, you know, I look, I lookat the Bible and the Bible says
to not store up treasures onearth but store up treasures in
heaven.
And you know, and, and I wrotea couple books.
One of the book I talk about is, you know, your heavenly net
worth, and so I've tried to liveby a model of having my earthly
net worth equal my heavenly networth, ie, you know what does
(07:02):
my earthly balance sheet say.
And then how much have I givenaway?
And try to correlate the two ofthose.
And I've been blessed andfortunate to, you know, work in
an executive career prior tostarting this company, where God
has really blessed us and ourfamily.
But what's one of the thingsthat's helped us in starting
this business you know I leftthe $900,000 a year job was we
(07:27):
didn't live on $900,000 a year,like we gave a bunch of that
money away and and so that gaveus margin to be able to move
into a business where I haven'tI haven't taken a paycheck
really in the last year and ahalf.
But that, that generosity, isthe antithesis.
It's the antidote for greed andif I could just encourage
(07:49):
people, the earlier you getstarted in that and carving off
that portion and not allowingyour lifestyle to increase every
time your income increases,that's, that's a phenomenal way
to combat that greedy ormoney-centered lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Wow.
I think that's important for usto unpack a little bit.
So were there any practices orthings that you did to ensure
that, as your salary increasedor you get a promotion that
allows you to stay very, verycomfortable in what you have, so
your lifestyle doesn't have toincrease because your paycheck
increases?
Are there any practices thatyou can share with people that
are listening?
How do you do it?
Because it's not easy and,quite honestly, it's appealing
(08:26):
when you're watching peopleworking hard in the car, they
drive the clothes they wear, thehouse they live in and they
continue to stack more stuff onEarth.
What were some practices thathelped you be able to be
disciplined and not to getcaught up in that?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah, so a couple of things in that you know.
Number one you mentioned goalsearlier on, like having goals
for, you know, investments, youknow your, your business and and
and maybe like health, whatever.
You can have generosity goalstoo.
So my wife and I have havegenerosity goals.
You know we've started, youknow initially with you know
tithing, right, but then youknow on top of that, what, what
(09:01):
additional, and really they werepercentage goals, so percentage
of income that we want to togive away.
But the other thing, the otherthing we did early on, is is we
created kind of this dreamlifestyle, like when we were I
don't know a couple of few yearsinto marriage, and we dreamed,
right, we wrote down this listthese are all the most amazing
things we could ever imaginehaving, and we put them on.
(09:23):
And then we just put a circlearound that and we weren't
around.
We didn't allow ourselves togrow outside of that, because we
could always remember like,well, two years ago, five years
ago, 10 years ago, that was thebest I ever could have imagined.
And so, as lifestyle creephappens, you know your world
gets bigger and you see biggerand fancier things.
But I know that made me happyand so I'll just share this.
(09:46):
Like you know, at the peak of myexecutive career we lived in a
$2 million house on the lakewhich was in that initial box
right.
I wanted a lake house rightwhere we could host and house
people, and we did all of thosethings.
But I can tell you that youknow that was crazy, four times
as expensive as the house thatwe lived in before.
It didn't make me four times ashappy, and so when we sold that
(10:10):
to start this company, that'ssomething we remember now as
we're living in a rental homeright.
That kind of goes back to wherewe were, Like we're not 25% as
happy as we were and we'reprobably a little bit happier
because it takes less time tomaintain, it takes less energy,
we have more time as a family,you know.
You just think about it, Likehow many times my wife and I
look at each other.
We're like all four of us meand my wife and my two girls are
(10:33):
in the same 12 square feet inthe kitchen together.
Why do we need 5,500 squarefeet?
Some practical things that wedid.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Absolutely.
Thank you for sharing it too,because oftentimes you think
when you know you get this thing, that's expensive, that looks
good, and you can say you'veachieved it.
But I love that you say itdidn't make me happier.
It didn't, it didn't make mebecause I had that and I had to
move to a twelve hundred squarefoot apartment.
I'm probably happier and seepeople more because you know in
four thousand square feet, fortyfive, that the house will be.
(11:02):
You know, you see each otherlike you're in another city
sometimes yeah, so you.
So you're in another citysometimes.
So you're leading.
I mean the podcast.
We talk about everything on thepodcast.
What I want to lean into is nowyou're running an organization
and you think about someonethat's in a position like you're
an entrepreneur.
What's the most important thingyou think you do for your
people as a leader in yourorganization?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, so one of the philosophies that we have in the
company is that everybody has aunique gifting, and so it's
hard in a startup where you wantto be scrappy and you need
people wearing all kinds ofdifferent hats.
But we've tried to be reallyintentional in creating these
narrow tranches ofresponsibility in the company so
(11:44):
that when we bring somebody in,we're able to identify you know
we're hiring for this positionDoes their giftings align with
that position?
And we try to make it so thatthey do that position 85 plus
percent of the time, so that youknow they don't need all.
They don't need the ping pongtable and the snack bar and all
(12:05):
the different, you know, treatsthat some companies use, but
instead they're just energizedbecause they get to do what
they're gifted in and excel forthe majority of their day, the
majority of their week, and sothat's something that you know
as as someone creating thiscompany from you know literally
there's one of us in the company14 months ago to now, I think,
has allowed people to to enjoythe majority of the work that
(12:28):
they're doing on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Wow, yeah, Steve, can you speak to?
Unpack for us for a second,going from one of you 14 months
ago to the staff that you havetoday, and this is your baby.
You've invested in this.
This is your livelihood as well.
How do you, as a business owner, entrepreneur, can you speak to
?
How do you begin to trust andlet go Because you can't do
everything, it's not sustainable.
But there's a struggle becauseit's like, hey, this is
(12:52):
everything and it's about mybrand and my image.
And how do you begin to, as aleader, a business owner, an
entrepreneur, let go and trustother people with this thing
that you've built?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Phenomenal question.
So that was actually one of thereasons why I knew I had to
leave my corporateentrepreneurial executive
position is because, like they,the requirement was I did all of
these things and I was like, no, this should be delegated to
this person, this person'sgifted here.
But but the expectation was Idid it and so when I left that
(13:26):
to go start the Well RecruitingSolutions, I had to do
everything day one right, butthere was nothing that I could
do that I could spend my time onpersonally that could generate
enough revenue in a company tomake it to the bottom line that
it was going to get anywhereclose to the opportunity
(13:48):
financially that I had leftbefore.
So I knew that we had to do itthrough, initially, a few dozens
of people.
You know, someday hundreds andthousands of people.
We had to do it through them.
So as soon as I saw myself doinga job, I knew, okay, I got to
create a job description forthat.
And then I have to go findsomebody who's gifted there and
(14:09):
replace myself and replacemyself, and replace myself and
replace myself.
To to now, you know, we're atthe point again, 14 months in,
where I've only personally hiredjust a handful of the people at
the company.
So we've got people leadingthat are hiring um that I.
I didn't have any decision towhether or not we bring that
person in, but we allowed theculture to carry through and
(14:29):
bring the right people in Wow, Imean, you're speaking to a lot
of stuff I can unpack there.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You know one of the questions that I get a lot,
steve.
You know, when I do a lot ofentrepreneurship development and
I'm working with businessowners that are trying to figure
it out, I mean, this is a worldthat you got to work hard.
You know one of the things Iteach.
You know, my wife and I havethree kids and one of the things
I always teach them if you'regoing to be an entrepreneur, in
the dictionary the first word iswork hard.
Yeah, that's like, regardlessof what order the dictionary is
(14:56):
in, if you're going to be reallysuccessful in life, there's a
first word that we got to learnis called work hard.
How do you help entrepreneursunderstand?
You know the question I getquite often hey, I need to hire,
but I don't have the revenue tohire.
Which one do I do first?
Because people get stuck inthis the company can't grow, but
they don't have the revenue yetand they can't get out of their
(15:16):
way of.
Well, I don't want to hire andcan't pay them.
How do you manage that?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
So I think the most important thing that every
entrepreneur has to understandand I think a lot missed this is
you're the number onesalesperson in your company, and
a lot of people are like well,I'm not a sales guy.
If you're going to start abusiness, you have to be the
sales guy, and if you can't be,you have to hire or partner, and
it's worth giving up asignificant portion of the
(15:44):
equity of your company becauseyour company will not make it.
Now I know we're in this worldof venture capital and private
equity and so there are someplays that can eliminate that,
but we bootstrapped our companyand so I knew I had to always be
selling, and if I was selling,then that would give me revenue.
Answers all the problems.
That allows me to buy the talentthat we need to bring into our
(16:06):
organization, or the technologyA lot of technology can take
place with some of those thingsat a lower cost.
And then we got to get scrappyright.
Two thirds of our team is notin the United States and so we
have relationships in about fivedifferent countries where,
again, speaking to those narrowtranches, I know that doesn't
have to be a 40, 50, 60, 70,$80,000 a year American filling
(16:30):
that position.
It's perhaps a $5 an hourposition.
That's in another country wherethat provides an amazing
lifestyle for that family andthey're amazingly talented at
that piece that I need done inmy business.
And so those were some of thekeys to scaling up quickly but
bootstrapping.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I love it.
I love it because you know, asyou look at it.
You say you know what do I doand you're in a recruiting firm
and I know you're helping youbring people on so you can
actually live up to what yourcompany's capabilities are.
I want to unpack a little bitas we use our time wisely for
you, as you think about yourorganization and what you do.
You shared a lot on leadershipand some phenomenal information.
(17:10):
As you do, recruiting, what iswhat would you?
If I'm a business owner or I'ma major company, what's
happening in my organizationthat says it's time to to really
call the well recruitingsolutions?
What's happening that I need toreach out and start getting
external help?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Yeah, I think it used to be in the recruiting game
that recruiters possessed accessand a Rolodex to people that
you didn't have before.
That's not been the case for along time Now.
The way that you've connectedwith them has changed over time.
But, frankly, what we find thatwe do the best at is either in
(17:48):
a very specialized positionwhere there's only a certain
amount of people, we'veidentified the best way to find
the total addressable market forthat and then reach out to all
of them, but more so, what we'reseeing is just the flood of
information, right?
So, as these apps and AItechnologies exist for somebody
(18:10):
going out and applying for a jobwhere they can say here's my
resume, now I want to apply forany job that looks like this it
automatically goes to all thejobs that equal that.
It retypes the resume, itautomatically does an
application and all of a sudden,these companies are getting
hundreds of applications thatthey're paying somebody salary
benefits, bonus, vacation,longevity, like $100,000,
(18:34):
$150,000 a year to filterthrough applications.
That's where our benefit comesin.
Is we're able to do thatinstantly?
With some of the technology andresources that we have, we're
able to get down to the bestcouple few people and then hand
it over to the big company thatdoes have an internal recruiting
team to pick the best couplepeople and then they can spend
(18:56):
time onboarding and coaching anddeveloping those high talented
people into their organization.
So all that to say our job is toget people to the decision
makers as quickly as possibleand eliminate the bulk of the
time that they're spendingtrying to find ideal talent.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I love it.
So, Steve, if someone'sinterested and want to follow
with you, for two things one, toreally solicit your services,
but two, they want to bring youon because I think you're in the
right market at the right time,for recruiting is really really
tough and it's a lot of moneyinvested.
How do people reach you?
What's the best way to contactyou and follow up and bring you
on another podcast or to useyour services?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yes, I'm super active on LinkedIn.
So Steve Perry, the wellrecruiting solution so they can
find me.
But then I've also I wouldn'teven send you to our company
website, hire the well dot comI've got a fun little 10 10
interview question, 10 uniqueinterview questions to make sure
you got the right person cominginto your team.
So a little giveaway there Ifyou go to HireTheWellcom and you
(19:59):
can download that and thenobviously reach out to us on
there too.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Awesome, awesome.
Thanks a lot, steve.
Is there anything you want toshare with the audience that you
haven't shared?
Of course, I do this forbusiness development, but I also
do it for education, so isthere anything you want to share
that you haven't shared yet?
Speaker 3 (20:13):
You know you mentioned.
You've got a ton ofentrepreneurs listening to this
and I just want to.
I just want to encourage them,like you were.
You were in the right business,you were doing the right thing.
I want to encourage you to keepgoing, because there are like
billions of people in the worldthat do not have the opportunity
to start a business like you dohere in America, and just like,
(20:35):
don't quit, like keep going,keep going, it's worth it.
You know, coming from a guythat you know several times did
not know how he was going tomake payroll on Friday, it's
worth it.
Just keep going.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yes, yeah, it is scary, but it's worth it, steve.
Steve thanks a lot.
I mean, we come on, we do thisreally fast and people listen to
the entire podcast.
If you listen, steve is givingyou information.
Linkedin is what I use as well,you know.
But go to go to the wellrecruiting dot com and figure
out and he gave you informationfor his LinkedIn how to get to
some free stuff, you know, andthat global core.
We excited to just add value.
(21:08):
If you want to find out moreabout us, go to our website.
Love for you to reach out to us,but today it's really about
giving you stuff that you canreally use.
Hopefully, you heard somethingabout recruiting or hiring or
making tough decisions, anddon't give up.
Our goal is to inspire you, tomotivate you and let you know
that it's possible.
Just keep doing it and putpeople around you, because
you're not good enough to do itby yourself.
(21:29):
Nobody is Haven't met thatperson yet, so get a team around
you, have fun with it and enjoy.
And until next time, steve andI will sign off.
Until you keep following us onUnpacked with Ron Harvey.
You guys have a wonderful dayand we look forward to you
joining us again.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked
podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Of Unpacked Podcasts withleadership consultant Ron Harvey
.
Remember to join us everyMonday as Ron unpacks sound
advice, providing real answersfor real leadership challenges.
Until next time, remember toadd value and make a difference
(22:04):
where you are for the people youserve, because people always
matter.
Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host
leadership consultant, ronHarvey of Global Core Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning.
This is Ron Harvey.
I'm your vice president, chiefoperating officer, global Core
Strategies and Consulting, whichis a mouthful.
We're based in Columbia, southCarolina.
Excited to be here with you.
Our company is really aboutconnecting leaders with the
workforce.
At the end of the day, you cango to our website and pull a
much longer definition orexplanation of what we do, but
at the end of the day, we wantto make sure if you're running
(00:41):
an organization where the public, private, nonprofit, education,
religious organization how doyou make sure you're connected
to your people?
And there are ways that we helpyou get that done.
We truly believe leaders makeor break organizations, so love
to talk to you, but today it'sabout our guests.
It's about what they bring tothe table and the questions that
they need to get to answer andshare with us.
So I don't take much timetalking about our company
because you can literally goonto our website and get all
(01:03):
that information.
I want you to get as much asyou can get out of our guests
than you get from me.
So let me pause.
I'm going to hand themicrophone over to Steve Perry,
who's going to dive in, tell youwho he is and then we're going
to go to work, steve.
Thank you for saying yes, man,looking forward to the
conversation.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Oh, Ron, it's an honor to be here.
I really appreciate youcreating this forum.
It's so generous of you.
I know it's a lot of work thatyou put in, and so thank you for
having me.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes, yes.
So, steve, a little bit about.
I know you're running a company, so you're over at the Well, I
mean you're doing recruiting andwe'll dive into more of your
background.
But can you share a little bitabout your company before we
dive into some of the thingsthat'll come up?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Absolutely yeah.
Our company is the WellRecruiting Solution, so we're a
team of over 40 recruitingprofessionals and our job is to
help connect you with the toptalent that you're looking for
your company and take a lot ofthe work out of that and really
just put the best couple fewcandidates in front of you so
you can make the best choice anddo what you do the rest of the
(01:59):
time.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah.
So I love your tagline outthere, steve, where you're
recruiting the elite talent fortop companies and you actually
have a goal.
You know that.
I saw also that I read you guyshave a really tremendous goal,
which is important.
Can you speak to the goal thatyou have, the vision of what you
want to accomplish?
You know, I think it's by 2030that you want to get some stuff
done.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah.
So by 2030, our goal is to have100,000 people placed in their
ideal career, and really thatstems from a lot of research.
A lot of people spend a lot oftime unhappy in their career and
think about it.
Right, you're spending 40, 50,60 hours doing it, let alone
(02:37):
thinking about it per week.
And if you're not happy, ifthat is not the ideal spot for
you, like, it's super.
It's super encouraging for usto be able to place people in a
better position, where they're,they're thriving and they're
feeling energized by the workthat we're doing, and so the
only way that happens is if theymake a move.
So that's why we've got thatgoal of doing that that many
(02:58):
placements, a hundred thousandplacements by 2030.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Love it.
I mean for all you that arelistening.
You know you got to have goals.
Let Wow Love it.
I mean for all you that arelistening you know you got to
have goals, let's just be real.
So if you don't have this goal,that is big and scary audacious
if you wish, you know you areyou really selling for less.
So I'm glad that you're jumpingright out and saying we got a
really big goal and we're goingto work and get there, but but
(03:20):
we got something that we got towork to get towards.
You started really young.
You know we look at your bio,you started at 15, you paid your
way through school.
You know and I want to leaninto that a little bit because
you know that couldn't have beeneasy and it's never easy to be
successful Can you speak to someof that journey of starting
young and what got you inspired?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, yeah.
So I was blessed to be raisedin an amazing household.
My mom and dad have beenmarried for 40 years now and you
know me and my younger sistermy mom stayed home raising us.
My dad was once the newestNaval Academy and, you know, in
civilian sector he was wasworked in human resources and he
(03:55):
never he never really had likebig career aspirations.
So he was just an amazingcontributor and the biggest
priority for my parents was tosend us to the best private
Christian education that wecould get and, candidly, that
costs about a third of theirincome.
And so if I wanted anything inlife, if I want to play on the
(04:18):
basketball team and havebasketball shoes, I had to work
and earn the money to pay forthem, If I wanted to go to camp,
if I wanted a car, any of thosethings.
And so my first job wascommercial salmon fishing out in
the ocean in Alaska, where Igrew up, and at the end of that
season.
I could do the math.
I figured out how much fish wecaught, how much the price was,
how much all the differentthings cost, and I'm like man,
(04:40):
that owner made a lot of moneythis summer and I did not.
So I think I need to be theowner.
And so that was where, the nextsummer, I was like I'm not
going to work for someone else,I'm going to build my own
company, and so I was 15 yearsold at the time, and that
started my entrepreneurialjourney.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Wow, I don't even know if I was thinking like that
at 15, Steve, Like wow, that'sa really really.
But it's really exciting to seewhere you come from and your
parents, you know, worked hardand invested a lot into you.
But the lessons learned fromthat?
What was the most valuablelesson you think you learned
from your parents saying we'renot going to give you anything
you got to work for?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, one of the things that has really been the
theme and I feel like is agifting that God's given me is
the theme of generosity.
You know my parents despite allof that, you know they
regularly tithe to their churchand I knew, you know they were
supporting differentmissionaries and organizations
around the US and around theworld when I knew, like we were
(05:34):
driving 15, 20 year old carsthat broke down every few months
, and so that sacrificialgenerosity always, always,
really stuck with me and alsoestablished that habit early on
in my life to where you knowtoday.
That's really the purpose ofwhy we started the well.
One of our core values isgenerosity to be able to
(05:56):
generate a lot of revenue, butnot for our own consumption, but
to be generous with ouremployees, but then also with a
lot of incredible organizationsaround the world.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, I want to unpack that for a second because
when you look at it, you dohave the core values and
generosity is on there, faith ison there, things that keep you
grounded as a human being and ata time where people go into
entrepreneurship and they thinkabout wealth, they think about
how rich can they get Like yousaid, you did it when you're 15,
you realize how much your ownermade.
How would you separate notmaking it about money, Because
(06:27):
it's easy to get caught up inthat chase the next dollar, get
the biggest client you know, andyou hear this thing about money
.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But how did you manage to to be more committed
and disciplined, to not make itabout your personal wealth?
Yeah, you know, I look, I lookat the Bible and the Bible says
to not store up treasures onearth but store up treasures in
heaven.
And you know, and, and I wrotea couple books.
One of the book I talk about is, you know, your heavenly net
worth, and so I've tried to liveby a model of having my earthly
net worth equal my heavenly networth, ie, you know what does
(07:02):
my earthly balance sheet say.
And then how much have I givenaway?
And try to correlate the two ofthose.
And I've been blessed andfortunate to, you know, work in
an executive career prior tostarting this company, where God
has really blessed us and ourfamily.
But what's one of the thingsthat's helped us in starting
this business you know I leftthe $900,000 a year job was we
(07:27):
didn't live on $900,000 a year,like we gave a bunch of that
money away and and so that gaveus margin to be able to move
into a business where I haven'tI haven't taken a paycheck
really in the last year and ahalf.
But that, that generosity, isthe antithesis.
It's the antidote for greed andif I could just encourage
(07:49):
people, the earlier you getstarted in that and carving off
that portion and not allowingyour lifestyle to increase every
time your income increases,that's, that's a phenomenal way
to combat that greedy ormoney-centered lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Wow.
I think that's important for usto unpack a little bit.
So were there any practices orthings that you did to ensure
that, as your salary increasedor you get a promotion that
allows you to stay very, verycomfortable in what you have, so
your lifestyle doesn't have toincrease because your paycheck
increases?
Are there any practices thatyou can share with people that
are listening?
How do you do it?
Because it's not easy and,quite honestly, it's appealing
(08:26):
when you're watching peopleworking hard in the car, they
drive the clothes they wear, thehouse they live in and they
continue to stack more stuff onEarth.
What were some practices thathelped you be able to be
disciplined and not to getcaught up in that?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah, so a couple of things in that you know.
Number one you mentioned goalsearlier on, like having goals
for, you know, investments, youknow your, your business and and
and maybe like health, whatever.
You can have generosity goalstoo.
So my wife and I have havegenerosity goals.
You know we've started, youknow initially with you know
tithing, right, but then youknow on top of that, what, what
(09:01):
additional, and really they werepercentage goals, so percentage
of income that we want to togive away.
But the other thing, the otherthing we did early on, is is we
created kind of this dreamlifestyle, like when we were I
don't know a couple of few yearsinto marriage, and we dreamed,
right, we wrote down this listthese are all the most amazing
things we could ever imaginehaving, and we put them on.
(09:23):
And then we just put a circlearound that and we weren't
around.
We didn't allow ourselves togrow outside of that, because we
could always remember like,well, two years ago, five years
ago, 10 years ago, that was thebest I ever could have imagined.
And so, as lifestyle creephappens, you know your world
gets bigger and you see biggerand fancier things.
But I know that made me happyand so I'll just share this.
(09:46):
Like you know, at the peak of myexecutive career we lived in a
$2 million house on the lakewhich was in that initial box
right.
I wanted a lake house rightwhere we could host and house
people, and we did all of thosethings.
But I can tell you that youknow that was crazy, four times
as expensive as the house thatwe lived in before.
It didn't make me four times ashappy, and so when we sold that
(10:10):
to start this company, that'ssomething we remember now as
we're living in a rental homeright.
That kind of goes back to wherewe were, Like we're not 25% as
happy as we were and we'reprobably a little bit happier
because it takes less time tomaintain, it takes less energy,
we have more time as a family,you know.
You just think about it, Likehow many times my wife and I
look at each other.
We're like all four of us meand my wife and my two girls are
(10:33):
in the same 12 square feet inthe kitchen together.
Why do we need 5,500 squarefeet?
Some practical things that wedid.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Absolutely.
Thank you for sharing it too,because oftentimes you think
when you know you get this thing, that's expensive, that looks
good, and you can say you'veachieved it.
But I love that you say itdidn't make me happier.
It didn't, it didn't make mebecause I had that and I had to
move to a twelve hundred squarefoot apartment.
I'm probably happier and seepeople more because you know in
four thousand square feet, fortyfive, that the house will be.
(11:02):
You know, you see each otherlike you're in another city
sometimes yeah, so you.
So you're in another citysometimes.
So you're leading.
I mean the podcast.
We talk about everything on thepodcast.
What I want to lean into is nowyou're running an organization
and you think about someonethat's in a position like you're
an entrepreneur.
What's the most important thingyou think you do for your
people as a leader in yourorganization?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, so one of the philosophies that we have in the
company is that everybody has aunique gifting, and so it's
hard in a startup where you wantto be scrappy and you need
people wearing all kinds ofdifferent hats.
But we've tried to be reallyintentional in creating these
narrow tranches ofresponsibility in the company so
(11:44):
that when we bring somebody in,we're able to identify you know
we're hiring for this positionDoes their giftings align with
that position?
And we try to make it so thatthey do that position 85 plus
percent of the time, so that youknow they don't need all.
They don't need the ping pongtable and the snack bar and all
(12:05):
the different, you know, treatsthat some companies use, but
instead they're just energizedbecause they get to do what
they're gifted in and excel forthe majority of their day, the
majority of their week, and sothat's something that you know
as as someone creating thiscompany from you know literally
there's one of us in the company14 months ago to now, I think,
has allowed people to to enjoythe majority of the work that
(12:28):
they're doing on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Wow, yeah, Steve, can you speak to?
Unpack for us for a second,going from one of you 14 months
ago to the staff that you havetoday, and this is your baby.
You've invested in this.
This is your livelihood as well.
How do you, as a business owner, entrepreneur, can you speak to
?
How do you begin to trust andlet go Because you can't do
everything, it's not sustainable.
But there's a struggle becauseit's like, hey, this is
(12:52):
everything and it's about mybrand and my image.
And how do you begin to, as aleader, a business owner, an
entrepreneur, let go and trustother people with this thing
that you've built?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Phenomenal question.
So that was actually one of thereasons why I knew I had to
leave my corporateentrepreneurial executive
position is because, like they,the requirement was I did all of
these things and I was like, no, this should be delegated to
this person, this person'sgifted here.
But but the expectation was Idid it and so when I left that
(13:26):
to go start the Well RecruitingSolutions, I had to do
everything day one right, butthere was nothing that I could
do that I could spend my time onpersonally that could generate
enough revenue in a company tomake it to the bottom line that
it was going to get anywhereclose to the opportunity
(13:48):
financially that I had leftbefore.
So I knew that we had to do itthrough, initially, a few dozens
of people.
You know, someday hundreds andthousands of people.
We had to do it through them.
So as soon as I saw myself doinga job, I knew, okay, I got to
create a job description forthat.
And then I have to go findsomebody who's gifted there and
(14:09):
replace myself and replacemyself, and replace myself and
replace myself.
To to now, you know, we're atthe point again, 14 months in,
where I've only personally hiredjust a handful of the people at
the company.
So we've got people leadingthat are hiring um that I.
I didn't have any decision towhether or not we bring that
person in, but we allowed theculture to carry through and
(14:29):
bring the right people in Wow, Imean, you're speaking to a lot
of stuff I can unpack there.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You know one of the questions that I get a lot,
steve.
You know, when I do a lot ofentrepreneurship development and
I'm working with businessowners that are trying to figure
it out, I mean, this is a worldthat you got to work hard.
You know one of the things Iteach.
You know, my wife and I havethree kids and one of the things
I always teach them if you'regoing to be an entrepreneur, in
the dictionary the first word iswork hard.
Yeah, that's like, regardlessof what order the dictionary is
(14:56):
in, if you're going to be reallysuccessful in life, there's a
first word that we got to learnis called work hard.
How do you help entrepreneursunderstand?
You know the question I getquite often hey, I need to hire,
but I don't have the revenue tohire.
Which one do I do first?
Because people get stuck inthis the company can't grow, but
they don't have the revenue yetand they can't get out of their
(15:16):
way of.
Well, I don't want to hire andcan't pay them.
How do you manage that?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
So I think the most important thing that every
entrepreneur has to understandand I think a lot missed this is
you're the number onesalesperson in your company, and
a lot of people are like well,I'm not a sales guy.
If you're going to start abusiness, you have to be the
sales guy, and if you can't be,you have to hire or partner, and
it's worth giving up asignificant portion of the
(15:44):
equity of your company becauseyour company will not make it.
Now I know we're in this worldof venture capital and private
equity and so there are someplays that can eliminate that,
but we bootstrapped our companyand so I knew I had to always be
selling, and if I was selling,then that would give me revenue.
Answers all the problems.
That allows me to buy the talentthat we need to bring into our
(16:06):
organization, or the technologyA lot of technology can take
place with some of those thingsat a lower cost.
And then we got to get scrappyright.
Two thirds of our team is notin the United States and so we
have relationships in about fivedifferent countries where,
again, speaking to those narrowtranches, I know that doesn't
have to be a 40, 50, 60, 70,$80,000 a year American filling
(16:30):
that position.
It's perhaps a $5 an hourposition.
That's in another country wherethat provides an amazing
lifestyle for that family andthey're amazingly talented at
that piece that I need done inmy business.
And so those were some of thekeys to scaling up quickly but
bootstrapping.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I love it.
I love it because you know, asyou look at it.
You say you know what do I doand you're in a recruiting firm
and I know you're helping youbring people on so you can
actually live up to what yourcompany's capabilities are.
I want to unpack a little bitas we use our time wisely for
you, as you think about yourorganization and what you do.
You shared a lot on leadershipand some phenomenal information.
(17:10):
As you do, recruiting, what iswhat would you?
If I'm a business owner or I'ma major company, what's
happening in my organizationthat says it's time to to really
call the well recruitingsolutions?
What's happening that I need toreach out and start getting
external help?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Yeah, I think it used to be in the recruiting game
that recruiters possessed accessand a Rolodex to people that
you didn't have before.
That's not been the case for along time Now.
The way that you've connectedwith them has changed over time.
But, frankly, what we find thatwe do the best at is either in
(17:48):
a very specialized positionwhere there's only a certain
amount of people, we'veidentified the best way to find
the total addressable market forthat and then reach out to all
of them, but more so, what we'reseeing is just the flood of
information, right?
So, as these apps and AItechnologies exist for somebody
(18:10):
going out and applying for a jobwhere they can say here's my
resume, now I want to apply forany job that looks like this it
automatically goes to all thejobs that equal that.
It retypes the resume, itautomatically does an
application and all of a sudden,these companies are getting
hundreds of applications thatthey're paying somebody salary
benefits, bonus, vacation,longevity, like $100,000,
(18:34):
$150,000 a year to filterthrough applications.
That's where our benefit comesin.
Is we're able to do thatinstantly?
With some of the technology andresources that we have, we're
able to get down to the bestcouple few people and then hand
it over to the big company thatdoes have an internal recruiting
team to pick the best couplepeople and then they can spend
(18:56):
time onboarding and coaching anddeveloping those high talented
people into their organization.
So all that to say our job is toget people to the decision
makers as quickly as possibleand eliminate the bulk of the
time that they're spendingtrying to find ideal talent.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I love it.
So, Steve, if someone'sinterested and want to follow
with you, for two things one, toreally solicit your services,
but two, they want to bring youon because I think you're in the
right market at the right time,for recruiting is really really
tough and it's a lot of moneyinvested.
How do people reach you?
What's the best way to contactyou and follow up and bring you
on another podcast or to useyour services?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yes, I'm super active on LinkedIn.
So Steve Perry, the wellrecruiting solution so they can
find me.
But then I've also I wouldn'teven send you to our company
website, hire the well dot comI've got a fun little 10 10
interview question, 10 uniqueinterview questions to make sure
you got the right person cominginto your team.
So a little giveaway there Ifyou go to HireTheWellcom and you
(19:59):
can download that and thenobviously reach out to us on
there too.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Awesome, awesome.
Thanks a lot, steve.
Is there anything you want toshare with the audience that you
haven't shared?
Of course, I do this forbusiness development, but I also
do it for education, so isthere anything you want to share
that you haven't shared yet?
Speaker 3 (20:13):
You know you mentioned.
You've got a ton ofentrepreneurs listening to this
and I just want to.
I just want to encourage them,like you were.
You were in the right business,you were doing the right thing.
I want to encourage you to keepgoing, because there are like
billions of people in the worldthat do not have the opportunity
to start a business like you dohere in America, and just like,
(20:35):
don't quit, like keep going,keep going, it's worth it.
You know, coming from a guythat you know several times did
not know how he was going tomake payroll on Friday, it's
worth it.
Just keep going.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yes, yeah, it is scary, but it's worth it, steve.
Steve thanks a lot.
I mean, we come on, we do thisreally fast and people listen to
the entire podcast.
If you listen, steve is givingyou information.
Linkedin is what I use as well,you know.
But go to go to the wellrecruiting dot com and figure
out and he gave you informationfor his LinkedIn how to get to
some free stuff, you know, andthat global core.
We excited to just add value.
(21:08):
If you want to find out moreabout us, go to our website.
Love for you to reach out to us,but today it's really about
giving you stuff that you canreally use.
Hopefully, you heard somethingabout recruiting or hiring or
making tough decisions, anddon't give up.
Our goal is to inspire you, tomotivate you and let you know
that it's possible.
Just keep doing it and putpeople around you, because
you're not good enough to do itby yourself.
(21:29):
Nobody is Haven't met thatperson yet, so get a team around
you, have fun with it and enjoy.
And until next time, steve andI will sign off.
Until you keep following us onUnpacked with Ron Harvey.
You guys have a wonderful dayand we look forward to you
joining us again.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked
podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Of Unpacked Podcasts withleadership consultant Ron Harvey
.
Remember to join us everyMonday as Ron unpacks sound
advice, providing real answersfor real leadership challenges.
Until next time, remember toadd value and make a difference
(22:04):
where you are for the people youserve, because people always
matter.
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